This government is your government? We have hard work ahead to make sure these words ring true. Lots of people are under strain. Jobs are insecure. Costs are climbing for housing and higher education and health care. The well-off remain well-off. But even for the prosperous, prospects for the next generation are a question mark. For most of us, the future has never seemed so unknowable.

State government is no magic lever by which everything can be made right. But we can push back, to powerful effect, against the special interests and the narrowly self-interested. As a participant-leader in a community of neighbors, a state senator has much to contribute — ideas, contacts, time and, where warranted, public resources. Together we can make headway on top-of-mind concerns like economic growth. Climate change. College affordability. Helping people deal with their health problems. Doing smart and decent things with our tax revenues.

Once upon a time, before entering the private sector, I served in the very body for which I’m now a candidate. I know that high standards and hard work can make a difference in the State Senate, a group of just 40 people elected from across Massachusetts.

I’m running because in my earlier service I got a lot done (modesty takes a back seat in political campaigns). I was Legislator of the Year three times – named as such by the Mass. Municipal Association for my work on local aid, and by the Greater Boston Association for Retarded Citizens and the Mass. Developmental Disabilities Council for my work on human services. Boston Magazine tagged me “Best Democratic Rising Star” and the Boston Phoenix and Lowell Sun named me one of the Ten Best Legislators in Massachusetts.